Philadelphia – Philadelphia Phillies slugger Kyle Schwarber homered in four of his first five at-bats Thursday night in a 19-4 win against Atlanta, pushing his season total to 49.
Schwarber is the fourth Phillies player to hit four homers in a game and the first since Mike Schmidt against the Chicago Cubs in April 1976. He’s the third player in the majors to hit four homers in a game this season, following Eugenio Suárez and Nick Kurtz. It was the 21st four-homer game in major league history.
Schwarber began the day tied with the Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani for the National League lead. Seattle’s Cal Raleigh tops the majors with 50.
The Philadelphia star had nine RBIs. He started the power surge with a solo shot in the first off Cal Quantrill, sending a 2-1, curveball into the seats in right field. Scharber hit a flyout to center in the second.
After Quantrill was lifted with one out and a pair of runners on base in the fourth, Schwarber greeted lefty Austin Cox by sending a 3-2 curveball over the wall in right for his fourth multi-homer game of the season.
With “M-V-P! M-V-P!” chants ringing down from Phillies fans in the fifth, Schwarber launched a three-run, opposite-field drive off Cox, giving him five RBIs and putting Philadelphia ahead 15-3. In the eighth, Schwarber hit a three-run shot to right off Wander Suero to make it 18-4.
Guardians release veteran Santana
Cleveland – Carlos Santana’s third stint with the Cleveland Guardians has come to an end.
The Guardians announced Thursday that they have released the longtime first baseman, making the 39-year-old veteran available on the open market for teams looking to add a veteran bat to their lineup.
Santana signed a one-year deal in December and has appeared in 116 games for Cleveland this season. He hit 11 home runs with 52 RBIs, while logging a .225 batting average, .316 on-base percentage and .333 slugging percentage.
He’s played 11 of his 16 seasons with the Guardians, including each of his first eight. He’s also played for Kansas City, Philadelphia, Minnesota, Pittsburgh, Seattle and Milwaukee.
He won an AL Silver Slugger and was an All-Star in 2019 during his second stint in Cleveland, and earned an AL Gold Glove in 2024 with the Twins.
Santana’s days have seemed numbered in the past month as he lost playing time to younger players, including Kyle Manzardo and C.J. Kayfus.
Rangers’ Seager has appendectomy
Texas Rangers shortstop Corey Seager had an appendectomy Thursday after experiencing abdominal pain during a game the previous night
The surgery was done in Texas after the team had traveled to California for the start of a series against the Athletics on Friday night. Chris Young, the team’s president of baseball operations, said it was too early to know how much time the two-time World Series MVP will miss.
“Corey did not want to rule out the season. In fact, he’s been researching athletes who’ve come back from this quickly,” Young said. “The most important thing is to make sure that Corey’s health is right.”
Young said the timetable could be two or three weeks, but that it was equally possible that Seager could miss the rest of the season, the fourth of his $325 million, 10-year contract.
The team said Thursday night that the surgery, performed by Dr. Garish Alexander in Mansfield, Texas, went as expected. Seager will continue to be evaluated over the next several days.
It is the latest injury setback for the Rangers, who with 27 games left are 4 1/2 games back of Seattle for the American League’s last wild-card spot. The Mariners and Kansas City, which was between the AL West rivals in those standings, both hold tiebreakers over Texas.
Second baseman Marcus Semien, in the fourth season of a $175 million, seven-year contract, was placed on the injured list for only the second time in his career Saturday because of a broken bone and sprained ligament after fouling a ball off the top of his left foot. Right-hander Nathan Eovaldi, 11-3 with a career-best 1.73 ERA but short of the innings needed to qualify as the MLB leader, went on the IL this week because of a rotator cuff strain.
Texas will place Seager on the 10-day IL and call up veteran utility player Dylan Moore, who had just been signed to a minor league contract after being released by Seattle. Center fielder Evan Carter (broken right wrist) will be be transferred to the 60-day IL to make room on the 40-man roster.
“Obviously Corey, he’s extremely impactful for our team, and at this point in the season, with everything we’ve experienced thus far, that’s a tough blow,” Young said. “We’ve obviously had a lot of tough blows the last couple of weeks here. … The team is still in a playoff race and our goal is to continue to put our best foot forward and continue to fight and see where it goes.”
It was initially thought that Seager came out of their 20-3 win over the Los Angeles Angels on Wednesday night because of the lopsided score. The Rangers were up 11-1, and he had hit his 21st homer and scored three times before manager Bruce Bochy replaced Seager in the field in the top of the fifth inning.
“So did I. We kind of learned about it simultaneously,” Young said. “Boch was taking him out anyway but it was the timing kind of lined up.”
Young said Seager had experienced some pain before the game, but nothing that concerned the team or the shortstop. But that pain increased while playing, and he was diagnosed with appendicitis when he was evaluated after coming out of the game.
Rashi makes long-awaited MLB debut
Milwaukee – It’s been a long road to the major leagues for Arizona Diamondbacks reliever Taylor Rashi.
On Thursday, it all paid off as the 29-year-old made his debut in spectacular fashion, pitching three scoreless innings against the MLB-leading Milwaukee Brewers to earn a save in Arizona’s 6-4 win.
And, like his career path, it didn’t come easy. With a crowd of more than 35,000 standing and cheering, Christian Yelich, who came on as a pinch-hitter, made his way to the plate with two runners on and two outs in the ninth, representing the winning run.
After some tense moments, Rashi got Yelich to ground out to end the game.
“It was cool. It was a lot,” said Rashi, who toiled in the minors for six years before getting the call-up. “I wasn’t really nervous until I got on the mound. I think the nerves set in a little bit there. I was a little bit shaky today. Not my normal self, but you’ve got to find a way.”
And having to face Yelich only added to the drama for Rashi, who arrived in Milwaukee a day earlier from Triple-A Reno.
“I told myself if you want to be the best you’ve got to beat the best and he’s one of the best hitters in the game,” Rahsi said.
Rashi faced a bit of adversity as soon as he came on in the seventh. Two runners reached, but he struck out Andrew Vaughn swinging and caught Isaac Collins looking to end the inning.
Teammates greeted Rashi with a boisterous celebration in the clubhouse.
“It’s a story of perseverance and believing,” manager Torey Lovullo said.
Rashi said doubt began to set in at times, especially when dealing with injuries.
“It’s been hard,” he said. “There were times there going through rehab where I said I don’t know if this is worth it. But this made it all worth it.”
Lovullo said the Diamondbacks’ bullpen had few fresh arms on Thursday, so he turned to Rashi.
“Basically, everybody was down in the bullpen,” he said. “On a day when we needed it most, he blocked all that out. To me, he was oblivious to what was going on around him. He just made pitches and got a massive, massive save for us. He just happened to get their best player to get the final out and he didn’t blink. At that point, it was his game to win our lose.”
Lovullo broke into a smile when talking about Rashi’s day.
“It’s an organizational success story,” he said. “You’ve got a group of coaches in Triple-A who were pounding the table for him. You’ve got player development staff pounding the table for him. And he comes up here and does his job. It’s a great moment for the organization and for him.”
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